1. Who are you? The school-univer- sity-work conveyor belt leaves little time for personal reflection, says Roy Bromley, national director of The Year in Industry, a scheme that matches students to employers (www.yini.org.uk). Use a gap year to evaluate your goals.

2. Get a proper job. Working through a gap year is particularly valuable for graduates. “It gives you the opportunity to speak in real terms at interview,” Bromley says.

3. You hated it? Then it was successful. Working out what you don’t want to do is all part of the process.

4. Make it count. If you want to work your way around the world, do it. “Don’t meander into it. Have clear objectives of what you want to achieve,” Bromley says.

5. Get an edge. “Our clients look for graduates who have a little bit more to them,” says John Rose, the chief executive of Hudson, a recruitment consultancy. Travelling can show you have some get-up-and-go.

6. Should you quit? “Work out whether you need a career break or career refreshment,” says John Lees, a career strategist and author. Working with new people in a different organisation could be a better tonic than coming back to a job you hate.

7. Beat the burnout. “It’s easier to take six months off than it used to be,” Rose says. It’s a candidate-driven market, so employers will be happy to see you on your return.

8. I’ll come back (honest). If your company wants to keep you, it might let you go, Lees says. Promise to return ready and eager for more.

9. Timing is everything. Alefiya Raj-kotwala, 30, a manager in technology consulting at Accenture, the professional services company, spent nine months in Rwanda on a VSO business partnership scheme (www.vso.org.uk/volunteering/business). “I wanted to do it before I started to climb up the ladder to my next promotion,” she says.

10. And for my next trip . . . Rajkotwala is determined to take another career break in five to ten years’ time. Why confine learning to conference suites?

MIND THE GAP

TIMES Career and Travel are sponsoring The Gap Year Show, to be held at the GMEX centre in Manchester on November 10 and 11 and at the ExCel centre in London on November 17 and 18. For more information see www.gapyearshow.com.

Read about families that take gap trips and people taking career breaks in Times Travel on June 24. Times Career and Travel will also produce a special supplement on gap years to coincide with the show. For more information contact karen.german@newsint.co.uk

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